Awarua River estuary, Big Bay, Fiordland, New Zealand

Description: The area around Big Bay, and particularly Martins Bay, was an important settlement site for Maori between 1650 and 1800. It gave easy access to food resources in the nearby lakes, sea and forests, as well as sought after pounamu (nephrite, New Zealand jade or greenstone). In 1886 an expedition of 150 prospectors went to explore the area around Big Bay and created a settlement. It became a thriving gold-mining town in the 1890. Feeding the demand created by growth of settlement, sawmills in the area also flourished. But with the demise of gold mining, the saw mills soon diminished too, and the area was returned to the quiet, isolated landscape it had always been.